Govanny Garcia, 7, tastes the icing he was using to decorate a cake for his mom as a gift for Mother's Day. Professional bakers from H-E-B provided 300 cakes and icing for the students on Friday May 9, 2014.

The sweetest part of a wedding isn't immune to the capriciousness of trends, and brides and grooms can be picky when it comes to the cake — and they should be. The soon-to-be-wed spend between anywhere from $1.50 per slice to $12 per slice for their guests, and with the average wedding including 140 guests, the Mr. & Mrs. will have to pay anywhere between $210 for a simple wedding cake to $1,680 for a towering confection, with prices soaring even higher for sculpted cakes or intricate decorating.

That's a lot of dough for a cake.

So what do couples want? This year, says Michelle Brittain, a cake designer with Seventh Heaven Cakes, they're taking a turn for the traditional. The trend, she says, is now for heirloom cakes.

“The topsy-turvy cakes were popular for a while; they look lopsided and are very colorful,” Brittain says. “Those are kind of falling off.”

Now, she says, the brides are opting for cakes with a simple decorative design, like a dot-and-scroll pattern. “It's not fussy at all; these girls are very sophisticated,” Brittain says.

“Gone are the days where the cake is elaborate,” says Stansberry. “The girls want something clean and elegant — nothing over the top anymore.”

Jamie Miles, an editor with wedding website TheKnot.com, notes that heirloom cakes are great for vintage or rustic weddings, and that “clients are sick of fondant,” but that it will still make appearances in the form of delicately crafted flowers used to decorate the cakes.

“You're not going to be able to tell if they're sugar flowers or real flowers because these bakers are getting so good,” notes Miles.

Also on couples' radar are green trim and accents, which makes sense, says Miles, because Pantone's color of the year is emerald. Locally, brides are opting for a toned-down version of the color of the year.

“Mint is one of the big colors, mainly for accents,” notes Naomi Rivera, a cake designer with Pastel – The Art of Cake. “I'm seeing more requests for cakes that are kind of an old-fashioned style with fluffy butter crème and mint accents,” said Rivera, who also notes that the black-and-white color scheme, popular last year, has carried over into 2013.

White-on-white or ivory cakes are also 2013 mainstays that allow subtler design elements to come through.

“With that, you can play a little bit more with shadow,” says Miles.

If the wedding cakes are subtle and restrained, though, the grooms' cakes are just the opposite. With grooms' cakes, couples can take any whimsical idea and unleash it into a fun, fabulous cake to wow their guests.

“Grooms cakes are anything goes; pretty much shoot for the moon,” Brittain says.

The groom's alma mater may make an appearance on the groom's cake in the form of the university's seal or mascot, or the groom's hobbies may inspire cakes sculpted into anything imaginable, from a Polaroid camera to various animals.

“I just did a stand-up armadillo,” Brittain says about a recent groom's cake. “It was standing, dressed as a sheriff, with a hat on and a vest and a gun belt and boots.”

Or, in other cases, the grooms will jettison the cake all together and opt for another dessert. Miles notes that “candy bars” — long tables set up with candy in colors that coordinate with the wedding's palette — have seen a spike in popularity, and make for a cost-saving wedding favor to boot.

“If you put out baggies so guests can fill them with candy, that's another way to save some money,” Miles says.

Or, says wedding and event planner Greg Reese, the groom's dessert will include a personal touch that reveals something.

“Instead of a cake, we're also doing more of his favorite dessert,” Reese says.

As an example, he recalled a recent wedding where a milk fountain was set up on a table and surrounded by hundreds of Oreo cookies. The groom's nightly routine was to have Oreo cookies and milk before bed.

“They kind of want to see the groom in the dessert,” said Reese. “They want the guests to say, yeah, this is him, he loves this. So we do a special flavor or color or treat, like in this case.”

Regardless of your dessert choice, make sure you don't make the cake the last thing on your wedding to-do list. Tomas Rosales, owner of The Painted Cake, says that to ensure a quality cake, booking early is key.

“A lot of times in the bridal industry, the cake is pretty much the last thing that's booked,” says Rosales. “It's really good to book in advance, like six months in advance for a good booking.”